Nashua Review
A buyer-focused review of Nashua, an SA heritage brand built in print and now operating as a Total Workspace Provider. Voice is one of five workspace pillars, with pricing fully quote-driven across the portfolio.
Is Nashua worth shortlisting?
Yes, if you want one supplier covering voice, print, energy, connectivity and smart solutions under a single MSA. Nashua’s strength is heritage and breadth, not a per-extension voice price war. The trade-off is regional service-quality variance and quote-only voice pricing. Ask for references in the specific region serving your account and a written SLA before signing.
- HQWoodmead North Office Park, Maxwell Drive, Johannesburg 2191
- Founded1973 (first copy machine), 50+ years SA operating tenure
- ParentReunert Group (JSE-listed) via Quince Capital
- Network modelNational franchise / regional offices
An SA heritage brand built in print, now operating as a Total Workspace Provider with franchise-network service delivery.
Nashua installed its first copy machine in 1973 and has spent the intervening half-century building one of the longest-tenured business-equipment brands in South Africa. Today the company sits inside the JSE-listed Reunert Group with an in-house finance arm through Quince Capital – institutional backing rare in the SA voice category. The current voice portfolio is five VoIP / SIP tiers spanning LTE-VoIP, SME, carrier-grade Enterprise, cloud-hosted PBX and SIP trunking (detailed in Features below). The public catalogue also still lists three Panasonic hardware PBX entries, but Panasonic announced its exit from the PBX business in 2020 and dealer support ended in March 2025 – these are legacy listings for the installed base, not a current new-purchase option. The structural caveats are commercial transparency and regional consistency: per-product voice rates are not published, and service is delivered through a national franchise network where quality varies by region (see Customers below).
Is Nashua likely to suit you?
Good fit: Nashua’s multi-product consolidation and heritage should put it on your Total Workspace shortlist.
Pros and watch-outs
What Nashua does well, and where to push back at quote stage.
- One of the longest operating tenures of any SA business-equipment provider.
- Broad current-day voice catalogue spanning LTE-VoIP, mid-tier SME, carrier-grade Enterprise, cloud-hosted PBX and SIP trunking under one supplier relationship.
- In-house finance + a personal-credit partnership remove a procurement friction point for SMBs (detailed in the Pricing table below).
- Industry-recognised on the print side – HP Channel MPS Partner of the Year, DocuWare Gold Partner, BLI and EDP product awards corroborate the print-heritage credibility.
- All voice products are quote-only on the public site – no per-user Rand rate to triangulate against published-rate competitors.
- Service delivery quality varies by region. The Head Office GBP top-of-feed reads service complaints from multi-year customers; the cross-franchise picture is more positive (see Customers below).
- ICASA licensing is not surfaced as a single citation on the public site – confirm in writing at quote stage.
- Published third-party awards are all print-side; voice-specific recognition is absent.
- The public voice catalogue still lists three Panasonic PBX entries (Business Communications Server, Smart Hybrid PBX, Advanced Hybrid System). Panasonic discontinued its global PBX business in 2020 and dealer support ended in March 2025 – treat these as legacy listings for the installed base, not a new-purchase option.
Score breakdown
Four categories that decide whether Nashua earns a slot on your shortlist – weighted to the buying evidence a South African organisation actually uses.
All voice products quote-only. No per-extension or per-user Rand rate on the public site to benchmark against published-rate alternatives.
Broad current-day voice portfolio plus the wider Total Workspace consolidation. The on-premise hardware-PBX line on the public catalogue is legacy (Panasonic exited the PBX business in 2020) rather than current.
Long SA tenure and institutional parent weigh positive. Held back by regional service-quality variance at the top of the Head Office GBP feed.
Ownership chain, franchise locator and awards public. Held back by withheld per-product rates, missing ICASA citation and EOL Panasonic entries that aren’t labelled as legacy on the catalogue page.
Pricing and the quote-driven model
Nashua publishes no per-product voice rates. These are the buying lines to ask the team to itemise at quote stage so you can compare against single-product specialists.
| Cost area | Published rate | Buyer question | Risk level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nashua Virtual PBX (VBX) | Quote-only | Per-extension monthly + underlying cloud-PBX platform vendor? | Confirm at quote |
| Voice Lite (LTE VoIP) | Quote-only | Per-user monthly + included LTE data + handset bundle? | Confirm at quote |
| Voice SME (mid-tier VoIP) | Quote-only | Per-extension monthly + included minutes + geographic number porting fees? | Confirm at quote |
| Voice Enterprise (carrier-grade VoIP) | Quote-only | Per-extension monthly + contractual uptime SLA + 24/7 NOC service-credit remedies? | Confirm at quote |
| Voice SIP (trunking) | Quote-only; pre-paid model | Per-channel monthly + included minutes + top-up rates above bundle? | Confirm at quote |
| Panasonic hardware PBX (legacy) | Listed on the catalogue but EOL globally (Panasonic exited PBX 2020; dealer support ended March 2025) | For installed-base only – is support continuing post-March-2025? What’s the migration path off the platform? | Verify support model |
| Total Workspace bundle discount | Not published | What’s the multi-product discount structure for bundling voice with print + connectivity + energy? | Ask explicitly |
| Finance terms | In-house via Quince Capital + MobiCred (up to R50,000) | Effective rate vs straight purchase; clawback on early termination? | Disclosed |
What real customers say
Nashua’s franchise model puts each regional office on its own Google Business Profile. The cross-franchise aggregate sits at roughly 211 reviews and a 4.19-star weighted average across five rated listings. But the top-of-feed at the Woodmead Head Office reads differently to the regional aggregate – both signals are worth weighing.
“Phones does not get answered and accounts cannot assist with relevant query. Maybe lack of training. Renting copiers from Nashua for over 20 years and CANNOT AND WILL NOT RENEW A CONTRACT AGAIN DUE TO POOR SERVICE FROM THE ACCOUNTS AND SERVICE DEPARTMENTS. Shocking.”
“I have to say they give me good service always.” Highest-rated franchise in our survey at 4.7 stars across 19 reviews. The pattern across the regional listings is that smaller, specialist franchise offices score noticeably higher than the corporate Head Office.
Weighted across the rated franchise GBPs: Head Office (4.1★/77), Nashua Central (4.3★/53), West Rand (4.2★/44), Business Centre (4.7★/19) and East Rand (3.7★/18). Combined aggregate ~4.19 stars across 211 reviews. The spread by region matters: confirm which franchise will service your sites before signing.
Buyer move on the franchise model: the GBP for the office that will actually service your account is more relevant than the corporate Head Office aggregate. Ask Nashua which franchise region your account will be allocated to, then check that specific GBP and request three reference customers from the same region.
The Nashua voice and workspace portfolio
Voice and Telephony is one of five workspace pillars on the Total Workspace Provider model. The voice catalogue alone runs eight products spanning cloud, SIP, LTE and on-premise hardware tiers.
Cloud-hosted PBX
Advanced PBX features hosted in the cloud, automatic upgrades, no on-premises equipment maintenance. Positioned as the future-proof default for new buyers.
LTE VoIP for smaller businesses
LTE last-mile connectivity for rapid deployment; aimed at smaller businesses bringing telecommunications costs down without fibre infrastructure.
Tiered VoIP for SMB through corporate
SME tier supports geographic number porting with always-on support; Enterprise tier is carrier-grade with a 24/7 Network Operations Centre and Helpdesk.
Pre-paid SIP trunking
SIP account details for customers running their own IP-enabled PBX. Pre-paid model with self-managed call routing through Nashua’s network.
Installed-base support, not new purchase
Nashua’s public catalogue still lists three Panasonic hardware PBX entries, but Panasonic globally exited the PBX business in 2020 with dealer support ending March 2025. Treat these as installed-base maintenance for existing customers, not a new-purchase option. New on-premise PBX buyers should evaluate alternatives.
Voice + print + energy + connectivity + smart
Voice is one pillar; the wider Total Workspace Provider model bundles print, energy, connectivity and smart solutions under one MSA. Consolidation is the headline buying thesis.
You want one SA brand covering voice and the wider workspace stack under a single MSA.
- You’re a mid-market or corporate buyer looking to consolidate multiple workspace suppliers down to one.
- Long SA operating tenure and institutional backing weigh heavily in your procurement scoring rubric.
- You need voice across multiple tiers (small-site LTE, mid-market SME, carrier-grade Enterprise) without buying from different suppliers.
- You can validate the specific franchise region serving your sites before signing the MSA.
You only need Cloud PBX and want a published per-extension rate or a single-region service-quality guarantee.
- You only need Cloud PBX and want to compare published per-extension rates on a like-for-like basis.
- You can’t tolerate regional service-quality variance and want a single national service-delivery team rather than a franchise network.
- Voice-specific third-party recognition matters to your procurement scoring – Nashua’s published awards are all print-side.
Alternatives to compare
Three providers worth quoting alongside Nashua – each stress-tests a different decision driver: Tier 1 own-infrastructure voice, lowest published headline rate, or a peer multi-product consolidator.
Saicom Voice
SA Tier 1 voice operator with its own named interconnect fabric and the strongest verifiable customer evidence in the category. The contrast to a Total Workspace consolidation model.
Switch Telecom
R260 / 10-extension block (R26/ext effective) on its own ICASA-licensed voice network. The contrast to Nashua’s quote-only commercial model.
Vox Telecom
28-year SA ICT operator with similar multi-product breadth (voice + fibre + Microsoft + CCaaS) under one MSA. The closest direct comparison to Nashua’s consolidation thesis.
South African essentials
Four South African–specific signals to verify before signing: licensing, number porting, support escalation and contract terms.
The Enterprise voice tier is positioned as carrier-grade, which strongly implies own carrier infrastructure under an ICASA registration. The specific licence number is not surfaced as a single citation on the public site – verify at register.icasa.org.za during procurement.
Geographic number porting is supported on the SME tier per the product page. Confirm the LOA process, timing window and any once-off porting fees per voice tier at the discovery call.
Head Office: +27 11 232 8000. The Enterprise tier is backed by a 24/7 NOC and Helpdesk; service delivery for the rest of the portfolio runs through the regional office allocated to your sites. Confirm which office will handle your account and the after-hours escalation paths that apply in that region.
Quote-driven, with optional in-house finance. Confirm minimum term, notice period, clawback on subsidised hardware or financed deals, and the multi-product bundling discount structure if you’re consolidating workspace categories.
Sources and disclosure
Where this review’s facts come from, and how WhichVoIP gets paid – both transparent before you act on any of it.
- Nashua Voice & Telephony catalogueUsed for the voice portfolio, tier descriptions and hardware-PBX lines. Verified live 18 May 2026. Open source →
- Nashua About pageUsed for the founding date, operating tenure, Total Workspace positioning, ownership chain and the published industry awards. Open source →
- Nashua regional Google Business ProfilesUsed for the Head Office aggregate, the verbatim customer quotes and the cross-network rating breakdown surfaced in the Customers section. Verified live 18 May 2026 via Maps-direct search.
- Panasonic PBX end-of-life statusCross-checked Panasonic’s 2 Dec 2020 announcement (discontinuation of “Panasonic Business Communication” business) and the March 2025 dealer-support cessation. Sources include HBT Communications, Nsight Telservices, Phonewire and Yeastar PBX-replacement coverage. Used to flag the Panasonic entries on Nashua’s catalogue as legacy installed-base rather than current new-purchase options.
- 18 May 2026 (same-day patch)V7 migration. Score recalibrated from V6 6.5 to 6.8 against the V7 4-axis rubric. Surfaced the parent-company chain and finance arm (not in V6). Documented the regional GBP network with its rating breakdown. Surfaced top-of-feed service-quality friction honestly. Voice catalogue corrected post-publish to distinguish 5 current VoIP/SIP tiers from 3 legacy Panasonic PBX entries (Panasonic exited the PBX business globally in 2020; dealer support ended March 2025). Feature Set dropped 8.0 to 7.5, Buyer Transparency 6.5 to 6.0 reflecting the legacy-product catalogue listing.
Disclosure: This review was researched and written by WhichVoIP’s editorial team using primary sources (provider website, leadership and ownership pages, and Google Business Profile aggregates across multiple franchise listings). WhichVoIP may receive a referral fee when you request quotes through our platform. Read our full editorial policy.
How this score should be read
Scores are editorial guides, not guarantees. They combine published pricing signals, service fit, feature depth, support and reliability indicators, public customer signal and South African procurement checks.
- 25%Pricing value, including commercial transparency, contract flexibility and quote-process friction.
- 25%Feature set, including portfolio depth, integrations and admin usability.
- 20%Customer reviews, measured as a standing against other South African providers on the same review platform, adjusted for how much evidence supports it.
- 15%Reliability and uptime, weighted toward providers that own or fully control their network rather than reselling.
- 15%Support quality, weighted toward customer-review patterns rather than provider claims about SLAs.
FAQ
Short answers for the questions buyers typically ask before requesting quotes.
How much does Nashua voice cost?
Pricing is quote-only across the voice portfolio. Ask Nashua to itemise each tier you’re considering at your headcount band, plus the multi-product bundling discount if you’re consolidating workspace categories.
Is Nashua a South African company?
Yes – SA-headquartered in Woodmead, Johannesburg. See the Verdict above for the founding date, parent company and institutional context.
What is the difference between Voice Lite, Voice SME and Voice Enterprise?
Voice Lite is LTE-based VoIP for smaller businesses without fibre. SME is mid-tier VoIP with geographic number porting. Enterprise is carrier-grade for large corporates with 24/7 NOC support. See the Features section above for the broader catalogue including the cloud-hosted Virtual PBX.
Are the Panasonic PBX systems on Nashua’s catalogue still available?
Not for new purchase. Panasonic announced its global PBX-business exit on 2 December 2020 and dealer support ended in March 2025. The three Panasonic entries on Nashua’s voice catalogue are legacy installed-base listings rather than current new-buy options. If you’re a Nashua customer with existing Panasonic hardware, ask about support arrangements and migration paths.
What is Nashua Virtual PBX (VBX)?
Cloud-hosted PBX with advanced features, automatic upgrades and no on-premise equipment to maintain. Positioned as the default for buyers who don’t want hardware on site.
Does Nashua offer office automation as well as voice?
Yes – the company’s heritage is in print and office automation, and voice is now one of five workspace pillars commonly bundled alongside print and connectivity.
Does Nashua have national SA coverage?
Yes, through a regional office network. Service quality varies by location – confirm which office services your account and check that specific Google Business Profile before signing. See the Customers section above for the cross-network aggregate.
How does Nashua compare to SA Cloud PBX specialists?
Nashua is a consolidation play, not a Cloud PBX specialist. The Alternatives section above lists three peers worth quoting alongside it.